olicited a pass for Richmond.

"Well," said the President, "I would be very happy to oblige, if my
passes were respected; but the fact is, sir, I have, within the past
two years, given passes to two hundred and fifty thousand men to go to
Richmond, and not one has got there yet."

The applicant quietly and respectfully withdrew on his tiptoes.

"PUBLIC HANGMAN" FOR THE UNITED STATES.

A certain United States Senator, who believed that every man who
believed in secession should be hanged, asked the President what he
intended to do when the War was over.

"Reconstruct the machinery of this Government," quickly replied Lincoln.

"You are certainly crazy," was the Senator's heated response. "You
talk as if treason was not henceforth to be made odious, but that
the traitors, cutthroats and authors of this War should not only go
unpunished, but receive encouragement to repeat their treason with
impunity! They should be hanged higher than Haman, sir! Yes, higher than
any malefactor the world has ever known!"

The President was entirely unmoved, but, after a moment's pause, put a
question which all but drove his visitor insane.

"Now, Senator, suppose that when this hanging arrangement has been
agreed upon, you accept the post of Chief Executioner. If you will take
the office, I will make you a brigadier general and Public Hangman for
the United States. That would just about suit you, wouldn't it?"

"I am a gentleman, sir," returned the Senator, "and I certainly thought
you knew me better than to believe me capable of doing such dirty work.
You are jesting, Mr. President."

The President was extremely patient, exhibiting no signs of ire, and to
this bit of temper on the part of the Senator responded:

"You speak of being a gentleman; yet you forget that in this free
country all men are equal, the vagrant and the gentleman standing on the
same ground when it comes to rights and duties, particularly in time
of war. Therefore, being a gentleman, as you claim, and a law-abiding
citizen, I trust, you are not exempt from doing even the dirty work at
which your high spirit revolts."

This was too much for the Senator, who quitted the room abruptly, and
never again showed his face in the White House while Lincoln occupied
it.

"He won't bother me again," was the President's remark as he departed.

FEW, BUT BOISTEROUS.

Lincoln was a very quiet man, and went about his business in a quiet
way, making the lea